


first prize bravery

by volantium



Series: first prize bravery 'verse [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Anxiety, Depression, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, References to Suicide, bit of a twitter au because i can't help myself, ceo of stark industries harley, head of r&d/associate professor peter, this entire fic is just 'the mortifying ordeal of being known'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:54:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volantium/pseuds/volantium
Summary: At the age of twenty-five, Harley realises he's in love with his best friend.It's not a sudden, startling revelation. One day he wakes up and it just clicks - the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, he is in love with Peter, and the world spins madly on.
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Series: first prize bravery 'verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914016
Comments: 24
Kudos: 293





	first prize bravery

At the age of twelve, a man breaks into Harley’s garage.

At the age of sixteen, the same man adopts him, writes him into the will of one of the most powerful companies in the world.

At the age of twenty-five, Harley realises he’s in love with his best friend. It’s not a sudden, startling revelation. One day he wakes up and it just clicks – the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, he is in love with Peter, and the world spins madly on.

* * *

  
  
What they don’t tell you about your twenties is how much it sucks.

The fact of the matter is this – Harley didn’t ever expect to make it to sixteen, let alone twenty-five.

He moved to New York on the whim of Tony Stark and a bone-deep itch to get the hell out of Tennessee. At sixteen he’d been full of anger; at his dad for leaving; at his mom for being absent around him and Abby for Abby’s sake, because it was already a God given truth that Harley was an unwanted child; at the world; at himself. At sixteen he had the world on his shoulders and no place to go until he’d scrolled through his contacts and hit call on a number nearly five years old.

So, imagine his surprise, when Tony Stark had actually answered.

“Long time, kid,” Tony had said, voice crackling over the distance, and the guilt Harley had felt at that was insurmountable.

“Yeah – I,” he’d choked on the words here, too wound up in grief and rage. “I need to get out of here.”

He still can’t wrap his head around, even all the years later, that Tony just agreed and sent a jet to bring him to New York.

New York became home, as did the floors of Stark Tower, the sprawling labs he had all access to. He’d told Tony, late one night that he’d already graduated out of high school, a couple of grades early. He starts to shadow Pepper over the summer, became intrigued at the business side of things so much that he convinced Tony to let him double major in economics and mechanical engineering.

That Christmas, Tony surprised him with adoption papers – well, not really, the three of them had spoken at length about it but – still. He hadn’t really thought they would go through with it. Because why would two of the most powerful people in the tech industry adopt a sixteen-year-old fuck up from Rose Hill, Tennessee? But there they are, folded neatly into the Agency’s envelope and Harley tears up a bit, he does, as the three of them sign the paperwork to the soft sound of _Hallelujah_ in the background.

A year later, Tony had introduced him to Peter Parker.

At first, Peter had been too much – too bubbly, too harsh against Harley’s senses. How could someone be so _light_? Harley had wondered, after their first meeting. Peter hadn’t stopped talking, bouncing back and forth between the project he’d worked on for Tony – Mr Stark – to his school, to his friends, to his plans after graduation. NYU, apparently, despite Tony’s insistence that both of his protégé’s should be going to his alma mater, not just one. 

Biochemistry, though. Harley looks at Peter and thinks, _yeah, you’ll change the world._

It takes a while for Harley to warm up to him, even despite that. Harley is cold, both mentally and physically most of the time. But there’s something about Peter, something about his innocence despite every harsh thing the world has thrown at him, that makes Harley _hope._

Harley gets to know MJ and Ned over the summer between Peter’s junior and senior year; the three of them get on like a house on fire. MJ is like a cooling balm to Ned and Peter’s rambunctiousness, and it’s her who first realises Harley’s dilemma, long before Harley ever does.

At eighteen, the week after Harley finishes his first semester at MIT and Peter's high school graduation, Tony and Pepper sit them down, explain to them how they’re in line to inherit the company should anything happen. This isn’t news to Harley, who’s been in the will for the last two years, but it’s obviously news to Peter. The boy tears up, shakily refuses before Tony convinces him otherwise, says “you and Harley are in this together” with so much conviction even _Harley_ believes it.

Somehow, inexplicably, Tony ends up right. The longer Harley’s exposed to the force of nature that is Peter Benjamin Parker, the more he realises how much the have in common. How similar, and yet so different at the same time. MJ, apropos of nothing, tells them over dinner that they complement each other – this starts popping up in news articles disconcertingly quick thereafter that Harley isn’t entirely convinced MJ didn’t tell the journalist herself.

So, Harley’s twenties start off with responsibilities a mile wide, and shoes even larger to fill. And when you’ve moved across the country because you parents suck, when you’re trying to unlearn all the toxic shit they’ve taught you, when you’re trying to escape your own head on the best of days, when you’re trying to learn how to run _Stark fucking Industries_ because you somehow ended up the future CEO by chance, when you’re a perpetual storm stuck with the reincarnation of sunshine or some shit, and when – the thing is, what no one tells you is how much your twenties suck.

* * *

woke up gay again tf  
**@keener  
  
**the name’s harley, but you already know that | **@STARK  
  
**📍New York City  
2576 following | 12.3M follower  
  
  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD  
**@peterparker  
  
**Associate professor of biochem **@nyuinversity  
****@STARK** Head of Research & Development  
Check out our new projects here: bit.ly/ST8707X  
  
📍Queens  
185 following | 10.5M followers

* * *

Harley knows it’s a stupid idea the minute he thinks of it, but that doesn’t stop him from turning up at the tail end of Peter’s lecture.

He picks up coffee from their favourite café, makes sure there’s an extra shot in his, ignores the startled, recognised glance the barista gives him when he asks for peppermint in the other. He slips into the back of the packed lecture hall and leans against the wall. Tries to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Peter doesn’t teach full time – can’t, obviously, with his position at Stark Industries what it is – but Harley can’t help but be in awe. Peter definitely has a gift for it, and even Harley learns something new each time he finds himself on campus. It hadn’t even been a surprise, when Peter had mentioned it over drinks one night. His thesis supervisors had asked him, even before the confirmation of his degree, if he’d be interested in coming back to teach.

“I turned him down, of course,” Peter had said, swirling the ice around in his glass. 

Harley had made a noise, something indecipherable but combative all the same, thinking about all the times he’d walk in on Peter helping out in the lower-level labs, and well. Here they are.

Peter wraps up the lecture neatly in summary, something about molecular regeneration that flies more or less over Harley’s head. He is, after all, the mechanic out of the two of them.

Harley stays towards the back, even as people file out, the more observant students shooting him glances when they realise that’s actually _Harley Keener_ leaning against their classroom wall. Watches as other students crowd around Peter, asking him questions a mile a minute. It’s here, that Peter really shines – teaching the future generation all about science. 

He waits until there’s a lull in between questions, and definitely doesn’t take any satisfaction in the way the room goes silent, nor the way Peter seem to light up when he spots Harley making his way down the auditorium stairs.

“Doctor Parker,” he drawls, thickening his accent just to watch the delicate shiver that racks Peter’s spine whenever he does, asks with a grin, “if you have a moment?”

“Mister Keener,” Peter replies dryly, as he's wont to do when Harley calls him doctor. “I might even have two for you if that coffee is for me.”

Harley can’t help himself, laughs warmly as he presses the cup into Peter’s hand, “You betcha, darlin'.”

Harley loves the way Peter ducks his head, how his curls fall into his face with the movement, even loves the small noise of content when Peter takes the first sip of his – frankly disgusting, if Harley’s being honest – peppermint concoction.

It’s a stupid idea, because Peter’s students are kind of not subtly gawking at them – the pair that control the future of Stark Industries – but Peter looks fucking delectable in the navy blue suit he has on, and Harley flirts with anything that breathes, but he adores flirting with Peter, loves the push and pull, and it’s definitely a stupid idea, when Harley scoops up Peter’s messenger bag and wraps an arm around his waist, one that Peter leans back into even as the kid in front of him stutters to a stop.

Harley can’t even feel bad, either, not when his chin rests perfectly on Peter’s curls, the smell of peppermint and coffee surrounding them.

“Sorry to interrupt y’all,” he says, not sorry in the slightest. “But we have plans, Pete.”

It’s not even the truth – they never plan this. Harley just turns up whenever he manages to carve a spare hour to make the trip to Greenwich Village and meet Peter for lunch.

But Peter just nods, hair moving against Harley’s jawline as he says, “Why don’t you guys email me, and I’ll get back to you sometime before my next guest lecture?”

* * *

woke up gay again tf **@keener  
**let it be known that @peterparker fell face first in his plate of scrambled  
eggs this morning  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@keener** Lies and slander.  
  
grace **@gracejustice  
****@keener** **@peterparker** is anyone else wondering HOW Harley knows this tho?  
  
woke up gay again tf **@keener  
****@peterparker @gracejustice** people have breakfast together, grace  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@keener @gracejustice** ☕️🌻 [Image: Harley, hair golden and backlit by the sun streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, hands clasped around a steaming mug of coffee. His eyes are shut, and the look on his face is soft, if not tender; content.]

* * *

Harley is selfish; he knows this.

Knows it well, like a familiar ache, bone-deep and raw.

He looks at Peter and wants to steal him.

Peter is everything good in this world, everything that Harley _isn’t_.

Harley’s never met a person like Peter. Someone so pure and selfless, so _human_ some days it hurts to look at him.

And Harley knows, first-hand, that Peter has his own trauma – rooted so far down that on really bad days that brilliant mind can’t see past the pain, can’t get out of bed. Has held Peter through panic attack after panic attack after panic attack, when the image of his uncle dying on the side of the road can’t leave his head.

Today is particularly bad.

Peter hadn’t shown up for their morning meeting, the one just between the two of them that’s more a catch up over coffer than actual business meeting, and it’s the lack of texts that set off red alarms in Harley’s head. He ends up seeking out Peter’s personal assistant-slash-intern, a young college kid name Miles, who Harley already has eyes on for being _Peter’s_ replacement when the time comes, to ask if he’s heard from his boss today. When Miles shakes his head, says “I was going to ask you the same thing,” Harley lets _his_ assistant know he’ll be out of the office today before heading to Peter’s floor.

He scans his security badge – usually unnecessary because his biometrics are in the system – but he needs to override the elevator because the private one is on the other side of the floor. He’s on R&D Level 45, and there’s people already in the lobby who turn towards him the second FRIDAY’S done announcing his name.

“Mr Keener –”

“Excuse me, sir –”

“Hey, Harley –”

And he ignores all of it, stepping in the elevator and calmly saying, “Override, FRIDAY. Level 97.”

It’s past nine in the morning; their meeting can be anywhere between eight and now. It’s just a matter of who ends up in whose office first. Usually, it’s Peter sitting on the other side of his desk like he belongs there when Harley walks in, two cups of coffee in his hand.

“Peter?” He calls into the empty apartment.

No response.

Harley makes his way through the lounge and the kitchen, quiet as he can. All the lights are off – usually a sign that Peter’s sensitivity is playing havoc on his eyes, not just the anxiety. He knocks gently on Peter’s bedroom door, cracks the door open to peak his head in. 

Peter makes a noise, a whimper that cuts through Harley’s ribcage and straight to his heart, curled into a ball, blankets pulled to his chin. Harley slips through the doorway, pads across the couple of meters of floor to crouch at Peter’s bedside.

Even in the dim light, Peter’s eyes glimmer with unshed tears, hazy enough that Harley isn’t entirely sure if Peter’s aware he’s even here.

"Oh, baby," Harley says, soft and low. "It's okay." 

But Peter's shoulder shake, dry heaving a sob and - today is a particularly bad day. 

They have a routine for days like this – even despite their rarity. Harley will make sure Peter’s okay, run at gentle hand through his curly hair before slipping out again to get him a glass of water and some painkillers.

“Harls,” Peter whispers, voice cracking, hand grabbing onto Harley’s sleeve. “Stay.”

And that’s not part of the routine, but what is Harley meant to say to that, when Peter’s fingers are tangling with his and pulling him forward?

Eventually, Harley coaxes Peter into having a shower. He rightens the bedroom while Peter's in the en suite, heads into the kitchen to make coffee. He can hear the fate sounds of Peter moving through his bedroom, the distinct clink of his glasses case dropping against the bedside table. It doesn’t startle Harley at all when arms wrap around his waist, forehead pressed the nape of his neck, hands twisting into his button up. 

These days, especially, does Harley wish he never had to fight the rest of the world for Peter’s attention. 

Harley doesn’t really understand, how Peter can just – shoulder that trauma and live past it, instead of carrying it around like deadweight tied to Harley’s ankle. Harley goes to therapy twice a week, meets with his psychiatrist once a month, takes his meds every morning, and yet he still has more bad days that good ones. And here’s Peter – pressed against his side on the couch, the flatscreen on mute, still-damp hair curling around his ears and Harley’s collarbones – replying to emails on his work phone like nothing even happened.

Later, scrolling through Instagram, sees Peter’s close friends story; a picture of their intertwined fingers, the bracelet Peter gave him, the rope one with the anchor peaking from underneath his shirt sleeve – and that’s a metaphor Harley resolutely decides not to explore more – the words ‘lost without you’ scrawled across the screen.

* * *

And the world spins madly on.

* * *

Buzzfeed News **@buzzfeed  
**Five reasons why **@STARK** employees **@keener** and **@peterparker** are best friend goals bit.ly/BZ89pk7  
  
1\. They work together and might take over the world  
  
Stark Industries is known for the genius talent on it’s payroll, but Harley Keener and Peter Parker take it to the next level. Harley, the adopted son of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, was recently invested as CEO of Stark Industries. He is formidable in the board room and in the lab, if his double major in economics and mechanical engineering from MIT is anything to go by. Peter, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry - AND an associate teaching position - from NYU, has worked up through the ranks from intern to Head of Research and Development. If that doesn’t scream power (best friend) couple, we don’t know what does.  
  
  
2\. They’ve been friends for years!  
  
Harley and Peter met when they were still in high school, at the ages of 17 and 16 respectively. Though, they didn’t technically meet AT school; Harley had graduated early and was already attending MIT when his father introduced him to the newest Stark Industries intern, Midtown Tech student Peter Parker. The boys are now 25 and 24, and still as close as ever – last week was friend Ned Leeds’ birthday, which they both attended.  
  
  
3\. They are publicly supportive of one another, and it warms my heart.  
  
Even as the son of someone as famous as Iron Man, Harley has managed to keep a tight lid on his private life – so it was a shock for all of us when he came out as gay last year by changing his Twitter name from ‘HARLEY⚡️’ to ‘woke up gay again tf,’ except for apparently Peter:  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker** 🔁  
If anyone has a problem you can catch these hands.  
woke up gay again tf **@keener  
** yes i’m gay and shocked none of y’all figured it out sooner   
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
**I assumed my last tweet would have made it obvious but – I’ve known Harley for nearly a decade, he is my best friend, and literally nothing will ever change that 1/?  
|  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
**To think that something like his sexuality would is a gross reflection of my character. @STARK is an inclusive workplace and we all support him 2/?  
|  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
**Harley will kill me for saying this but he’s the most genuine and intelligent person I have the honour to know, and SI is privileged to have him at the helm 3/3  
|  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@keener** I’m so proud of you Harls, always.  
|  
woke up gay again tf **@keener  
****@peterparker** ur right i will kill u 💞  
  
  
4\. They hang out like, all the time?  
  
Sure, this one is easy – but the content. Just the other day, Harley blessed us with the knowledge that Peter fell face-first into his breakfast, and in turn, Peter shared with us with the softest picture of Harley Keener known to mankind. See the next fact for more!  
  
  
5\. If the last four facts haven’t convinced you, then maybe these pictures might:  
  
Meeting for coffee while Peter teaches at NYU? Yes.  
[Embedded Image: Peter Parker, glasses perched on his nose, dressed in a navy suit, NYU lanyard dangling from his pants pocket, holding a laptop in one arm and a takeaway coffee cup in the other. Beside him, Harley Keener in well-loved Doc Martens, black slacks, black turtleneck and a grey houndstooth coat, holding the same brand coffee cup, leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder as they walk through Washington Square Park.]  
  
Presenting at the SAME science conference? Bro power  
[Embedded Image: Harley Keener and Peter Parker standing on a stage, in front of a large screen emblazoned with the Stark Industries logo, with ‘Project Resilience’ in elegant typeface beneath. On a table in front of them is various bits of machinery. Peter appears to be talking, while Harley is looking his notes, twirling a pen across his knuckles.]  
  
Ironfam? Ironfam.  
[Embedded Image linking back to the **@IRONMAN** Instagram account, captioned ‘movie night! **@ppotts @keener @peterparker** #midsommor.’ Tony Stark’s face dominates half the image but looking at the background it’s clear that he’s taken the selfie from a distance away. On a couch sits former Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts, a bowl of popcorn in her lap, and to the side in beanbags sit Peter Parker and Harley Keener.]

* * *

king shit **@parknerstan  
**anyone else remember when harley came out and peter called him ‘harls’ ? that shit killed me.  
  
norah **@miasma  
****@parknerstan** or that time h accidentally called p ‘darlin’ in front of those reporters and I stg p turned as red as a tomato askgjlskdf  
  
Susan **@Susan_Godsworth  
****@miasma @parknerstan** Darlin’ is a Southern thing, I wouldn’t read too much into it.

* * *

  
  
Pet names have always been a thing between them.

Well, really, it’s more like Harley has a thing for dropping pet names like dimes, and Peter sticks resolutely to ‘Harls’ to the point where no one else calls him that anymore, not even Tony.

This too, isn’t a sudden realisation, but it’s a weird one.

 _Darling_ is the most often used one – the g dropping in favour of the lilt to Harley’s accent that he’s never been able to shake. Peter doesn’t seem to mind it, didn’t blink an eye to it all the first time it tumbled from Harley’s mouth. _Darling_ is when he’s meeting Peter at NYU, with their friends, in front of Tony and Pepper, and everyone else. Peter is not unique in this fact. It’s a Southern thing, inherited from his ma, left over from when she still actually spoke to him. 

_Baby_ slips out every now and then, usually when Harley’s half asleep or too raw to filter his brain enough. Or, apparently, drunk as fuck in front of their friends, Peter turning a gorgeous shade of red as Ned and MJ tease him and Harley doesn't even think to feel bad, if it makes Peter blush like that. 

_Sweetheart_ is the rare one; rare in that Harley’s too cautious to use it, lest it ruin everything. Because _sweetheart_ to him is the most tender, the most revealing. It happens, once, when Harley’s having a shit day, when Peter turns up on his floor with his favourite brand of whiskey and the latest edition of _Mechanical Sciences_ , the sun setting low and casting the apartment in pinks and golds and Harley – Harley, unguarded, catching up on this whole being in love with Peter thing – slips up and says, after Peter turns the last page, “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Peter – God bless his soul, because Harley is mortified the second it slips off his tongue – doesn’t say anything, ducks his head as a blush chases its way across his cheeks, and Harley falls in love just a little bit more. 

* * *

STARK INDUSTRIES **@STARK  
**Tune into tonight’s livestream with CEO @ **keener** and Head of R&D **@peterparker** at 6pm for an update on Project Resilience! stark.co/livestream  
  
woke up gay again tf 🔁  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
**Excited to talk about new **@STARK** developments with **@keener** at 6 tonight! stark.co/livestream  
  
The Guardian **@guardian  
****@STARK** announces free prosthetics for amputees under ‘Project Resilience’ theguardian.com/news/starkindustries/0831/

* * *

  
  
It’s a rainy afternoon, when Harley confesses. 

It’s a Sunday, and that in itself should be enough warning to Harley’s religious hindbrain – the day of rest, spending time with loved ones, so on and so forth – when Harley finds himself once again sat on Peter’s couch.

They’re a few beers in, Netflix playing in the background when Peter turns to him, apropos of nothing to say, “Do you ever wonder what our lives would be like if we never met?"

It’s scary, the way Peter somehow reads his mind most of the time, because Harley's been thinking about that for the better part of the last three months, ever since he woke up that Tuesday morning and realised – the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and he’s in love with Peter.

“Yeah, sometimes, I guess,” is Harley’s eloquent reply. “Why?”

“I just –” Peter runs a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture that has Harley on edge _._ “There’s no way I would’ve made it this far without you.”

Harley startles at that – because truly, he’s in the exact same boat, has been since he was seventeen and Peter was the ray of sun to Harley’s thunderstorm and thinks, there’s no way Peter thinks that too.

“Of course you would’ve, don’t sell yourself short, Parker.”

Peter chuckles, a self-deprecating sound, “No, no, I mean, you’re my best friend and sometimes I wonder if I would’ve made it through all those late nights in the lab, or my thesis, or even becoming the R and D lead without you, or getting out of my head when –”

“Are you kidding me?” Harley has to cut in, because there’s only so much he can take when Peter starts making sense to the twisted logic in Harley’s head, the cortex that’s all wrapped up in loving him. “You’re the most intelligent person I know, darlin’, the strongest, too.”

But Peter’s shaking his head, and Harley can’t stand for that.

“Don’t shake your head at me, Peter, you _are,_ you’re twenty-four with a doctorate for God’s sake. And if we had never met then I – I wouldn’t be here either without you. There’s no way, I would’ve given up a long time ago – and Peter you’ve given the world _so much_ – you’re so genuine it hurts me, your kindness, and compassion, and love for what you do it’s – it’s inspiring.”

Harley shuts his mouth with an audible click.

He – he hadn’t meant to say that much. 

“Of course you would say that.”

“Yeah, of course I would.” He mimics, and in the split-second decision of throwing it all to the wind, Harley takes a deep breath. “I love you.”

Peter’s head snaps up so fast Harley has whiplash.

“What?” Harley doesn’t imagine it; the way gravity sweeps out from underneath him at the sound of hope in Peter’s voice.

“I love you.”

“Harley, don’t joke.”

“I’m not, sweetheart,” and oh, there it is. “I couldn’t, not about you.”

He crawls across the couch, because there’s no way he can’t _not_ be touching Peter right now, needs to get his hands onto him to make sure he’s real and solid and _here._

Peter leans into the hand Harley caresses his face with, thumb sweeping over the apple of his cheek and, telegraphing every move, Harley presses his lips to Peter’s.

“I’ve loved you since I met you,” Harley whispers into Peter’s mouth. “It just took me a while to figure it out.”

And the way Peter’s breath hitches feels like a hymn from above, benediction and anathema all in one.

* * *

Things escalate from there.

* * *

It’s so fucking easy, Harley thinks, falling in love with Peter.

Most days he wants to crawl into Peter’s ribcage, latch on to the nerves of his spinal cord and never leave, and it fucking terrifies him because it feels easier than breathing, the way he loves Peter.

He didn’t think it would be. Not with the way he left Rose Hill and ended up in New York with still fading bruises and a hunger for violence as deep as anything.

In reality, nothing’s changed at all. They just make out a lot. Which maybe – maybe that should be a sign. That Harley wasn’t entirely alone in this ‘in love with my best friend’ business. They spend more time at home, curled up together on Harley’s chaise lounge, ordering overpriced UberEats and relishing in the comfort of each other. Morning business meetings turn into coffee dates turn into mornings in bed, the length of Peter warm against his side and soft in a way Harley only ever gets to see.

And he knows what the tabloids are saying. Who is he dating, who is Peter dating, any plans to settle down with their apparent significant others? As if the two most important people at Stark Industries could settle down with anyone other than each other, Harley thinks with a snort.

It’s one thing, being openly gay and the CEO of one of the most successful companies in their field, to be the adopted son of a superhero and everything else Tony is. Harley has a thick skin. Hast to, necessary for survival in the South, more so once he stepped into the limelight as Pepper’s successor. And Harley can take it – it’s nothing he hasn’t heard before, least of all said by his own parents. He barely even notices now, the criticism and the empty threats.

It’s another to be in a committed relationship with the man who amounts to what’s basically his only equal in the company. Harley can already hear the cries of nepotism and bias, because it’s not a secret that Tony has a soft spot for Peter – this’ll just make it worse. Harley can’t think of anything worse, for Peter to be subjected to. Because Peter doesn’t deserve that kind of backlash, and Harley’ll do anything to protect him, even if it means hiding his love for Peter behind closed doors and the private floors of Stark Tower.

They talk about it, of course, because even though they’re both fucked up to high hell, they’re still adults who can communicate. Peter, kind and gorgeous and lovely, agrees, says the same, reads Harley’s mind like he always does.

The thing that gets to Harley the most is how their friends and family react when they spill the beans a few months later. That is to say, they barely react at all.

Peter tells MJ and Ned, texting Harley all the while because he hadn’t been able to escape this meeting, toys with the anchor on his bracelet as his nerves act up. Not that they have any reason to, because half an hour later MJ messages him _: we approve_.

Abby is the hardest to tell. In part because she’s still in Tennessee, in part because they’ve drifted something awful – and Harley hates it, how they’re parents succeeded in driving a wedge between them, just wide enough that Harley doesn’t really know how she’ll react. He probably cuts off the circulation to Peter’s fingers with how hard Harley's clenching his hand when they video call her. They don’t – Peter and Abby – they haven’t met in person, because Abby’s never visited him in New York and Harley’s only been back to Rose Hill twice in the last nine years, to box up his shit and pick up his car. But, as he ever does, Peter’s sunny disposition charms Abby so much she calls him afterwards, just to tell him he’s a keeper, as if Harley didn’t already know.

Tony takes one look at them from across his lounge room, where they’re laying together on the couch, Peter’s chin resting in the hollow of Harley’s throat, and says, “Finally.”

* * *

TMZ **@TMZ  
**Harley Keener gets dinner with fashion designer Ashton Trace at romantic NYC restaurant  
bit.ly/756hg3  
  
Science Magazine **@ScienceMagazine  
**Guest editor **@peterparker** on working at **@STARK** and advances in molecular cell regeneration  
at **@nyuniversity** science.sciencemagazine.org/e/peter-parker  
  
Dr Parker, PhD ♥️  
woke up gay again tf **@keener  
**so proud of my partner in crime for guest editing the most recent edition of **@ScienceMagazine  
** check it out here: science.sciencemagazine.org/e/peter-parker  
  
STARK INDUSTRIES **@STARK  
**Production begins today on Project Resilience – check out the keynote from  
**@keener** and **@peterparker** here: stark.co/v/project-resilience

* * *

It’s nearly a year to the day they first kissed, and Harley’s never felt more loved in his whole life.

He looks at Peter like he’s hung the moon and all the stars, doesn’t even try to hide it. There’s something about it – him – God only knows – that electrifies every single particle of Harley’s being.

Nothing compares, not to Peter.

Nothing compares, not when Peter’s underneath him, thighs quivering, and Harley’s never left wanting, but in this moment, he _aches_ with it, the need to let Peter know how he feels, how much Harley loves him, _this_ , them.

He knows what he must look like to Peter – eyes lidded, flush high on his cheeks, hair falling into his eyes, looking half fucked out already.

“Loving you taught me how to be brave,” Harley whispers into the crook of Peter’s thigh. “I wouldn’t be here if not for you.”

They’re both raw, vulnerable in a way they rarely are. There are tears in Peter’s eyes, making those honey-brown eyes glisten something awful that catches in the depths of Harley’s chest, makes him want to rip the world in two.

“Marry me,” Harley says, not entirely on purpose, but it’s slipped out, like the soft whisper of a knife between his ribs and it smarts just as much, the way Peter goes silent.

He can feel the rise and fall of Peter’s chest, a breath in, once, twice.

“Harley.” Peter says, hands tightening so far in Harley’s hair he can’t help but moan. “Say it again.”

“Marry me,” he says, pressing a kiss to the underside of Peter’s jaw. “Marry me, baby.”

There’s no more exquisite a sound, past or future, that could compare to Peter’s breathless, “Yes.”

* * *

  
The keep it to themselves for a few days, because Harley is selfish, and Peter is _his._

They tell Tony and Pepper first, because they wouldn’t even been here if not for them, would never have even met – and when Harley tells them that, it’s Tony that laughs, head thrown back in forgone conclusion.

“Nah, kiddo,” he says, to the confused looks of Harley and Peter. “You two were meant to be. You would’ve met even without us, I think, right Pep?”

Ned and MJ agree, somehow, when Peter and Harley break the news to them over dinner one night, out at a restaurant in the Boroughs.

“You know they’re right, right?” MJ asks, eyebrow raised. “I don’t believe in soulmates but if I did, you two would definitely be that.”

They make the trip out to the cemetery late one afternoon, just them in Harley’s vintage Camaro and soft rock playing on the radio.

Peter sits down, in the centre of the four graves with Parker engraved upon them, and says, “This is Harley, my fiancé. I really wish you had met him.”

He’d met May, knew her for a couple of years before the cancer took her. But they hadn’t been dating then, and that’s something Harley regrets to the core, that May never knew. The she never knew how much her nephew is cherished. 

He stands behind Peter, who leans his back into Harley’s shins, and just listens.

“You know him, Aunt May,” Peter is saying. “Harley’s CEO, now, took over from Miss Pepper nearly a year and a half ago – he’s – he’s great.”

He can hear how choked up Peter is, brushes his fingers through curly hair as Peter keeps talking. It takes a while, but eventually Peter tires himself out, just curls up into Harley’s side, head pressed to his shoulder and eyes closed in relief.

He still jerks, when Harley’s raspy, low voice cuts the air, “I just wanted to say thank you – Mary, Richard, Benjamin, May. For Peter. He’s just waxed poetic over me, but I don’t deserve any of it –

Harley chuckles here, even as Peter makes a noise in protest, shakes his head fondly.

“I don’t deserve any of it,” he repeats, just to see Peter’s golden-flecked glare. “But he does. Peter is the most selfless, caring person I’ve ever met, and I thank God every day he decided to put the two of us together. I love him so much it scares me.”

Harley is selfish; he knows this. Some days, Harley looks at Peter and want to steal him away.

There’s a hand on Harley’s cheek, turning his face towards the sun, and Peter’s lips on his feels akin to Heaven.

* * *

_THE NEW YORK TIMES  
_04/11/20**  
  
  
FORTHCOMING MARRIAGES  
  
MR H. J. KEENER & DR P. B. PARKER  
The engagement is announced between  
Harley, son of Anthony Stark and Pepper Potts of New York, New York,  
and Peter, nephew of Benjamin and May Parker of Queens, New York.

Grace **@gracejustice  
**OH MY GOD HAD ANYONE ELSE SEEN THIS  
nytimes.com/marraiges/keener-parker0411  
  
king shit **@parknerstan  
****@gracejustice** HOLY FUCK  
  
STARK INDUSTRIES **@STARK  
**Those of us at SI are beyond elated to share the news of Peter and Harley’s  
engagement. Read the official statement here: bit.ly/PK6759

**_STARK INDUSTRIES_  
**from the desks of  
Chief Executive Officer  
H. Keener  
Head of Research and Development  
P. Parker, PhD  
  
  
  
STATEMENT REGARDING NEW YORK TIMES ANNOUNCEMENT  
  
  
  
We would like to confirm our engagement announcement appearing in the New York Times  
on Thursday the 11th of April, 20**  
  
Although our family and friends have known for the past year, we felt it was time to share the  
news with the public. We acknowledge and understand that few LGBTQ+ people are  
afforded the luxuries that we are as two prominent figures in the STEM space. We will be  
forever grateful to Stark Industries for their acceptance of us as not only their executive  
management, but as part of their family as well.  
  
In light of our announcement, all income generated by Stark Industries in the next 48 hours  
will be donated to The Trevor Project, a charity close to our hearts.  
  
Thank you for your support. It means the world to us.  
  
  
  
Peter & Harley

  
  
  


woke up gay again tf **@keener  
**cannot believe i get to one day call **@peterparker** my husband  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@keener** Cannot believe I get to one day call YOU my husband.  
  
  
The Guardian **@guardian  
****@STARK** Industries becomes first Fortune 500 tech conglomerate led by openly  
gay couple theguardian.com/news/stark-industries-ceo/04/11  
  
The Trevor Project **@TrevorProject  
**A HUGE congratulations to **@keener** and **@peterparker** on their engagement!  
[Image: Screenshot of an Instagram post by **@IRONMAN** captioned ‘It’s made me so happy watching you two fall in love.’ In the picture, Harley and Peter are asleep on their couch; Harley is propped against the arm, with Peter laying on his chest, face tucked into Harley’s neck. From this angle, you can see Harley’s arms clasped at the small of Peter’s back, barely obscuring the _KEENER_ that’s scrawled across the back of Peter’s sweater.]  
  
  
king shit **@parknerstan  
****@peterparker @keener** how/why did you guys decide to come out now?  
  
Dr. Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@parknerstan @keener** [Screenshot: text conversation:  
  
**h** 💘  
peter  
14:39  
  
**h** 💘  
baby  
14:41  
  
**h** 💘  
love of my life  
14:45  
  
**h** 💘  
text me back asshole  
14:50

 **Peter  
**Harley, you KNOW I’m in  
the middle of that stakeholders meeting.  
14:51

 **h** 💘  
well like you know how we’re engaged  
and stuff?  
14:51

 **Peter  
**And stuff.  
14:51

 **h** 💘  
I wanna come out  
14:53

 **Peter  
**Like us? As a couple?  
14:53

**Peter  
**Are you sure?  
14:53

**h** 💘  
peter, I’ve never been more sure of  
anything in my life.  
14:53  
  
**h** 💘  
i’ve loved you since i was 17 and  
i’ve said all of this before but, you’re the  
one constant in my life.loving you has taught  
me what bravery is and i want the whole world  
to know that  
14:55  
  
**h** 💘  
we could do like an nyt announcement,  
like your parents did?  
14:55  
  
**h** 💘  
i love you, sweetheart, and that ain’t  
ever gonna change  
14:57

 **Peter  
**I cannot believe you just said all of  
that over TEXT.  
15:00

**Peter  
**I adore you 💘💖💞  
15:00]

king shit **@parknerstan  
****@peterparker @keener** HARLEY ‘LOVING YOU HAS TAUGHT ME WHAT BRAVERY IS’ KEENER!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Dr Parker, PhD **@peterparker  
****@parknerstan** I really feel like I should clarify and say that Harley has actually said that to me in person before and yes it made me cry.  
  
  
woke up gay again tf **@keener  
**peter really just exposed me like that huh  


**Author's Note:**

> this is.... literally the softest ship i have ever come across in my life and i love them so much already wtf. honestly if anyone has any requests (either in this verse or not) drop a comment or [ message me on tumblr ](https://volantium.tumblr.com)because i would love to write more 
> 
> title is from [ first prize bravery](https://youtu.be/AcLfNXtULR4) by sorcha richardson, for reason >:) 
> 
> thanks for reading 💞


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